LEWISTON — Falmouth’s twin brothers put the Yachtsmen ahead and in command of Saturday’s Class A South boys’ hockey semifinal against Thornton Academy, but the Trojans made things interesting with a pair of goals a minute apart to square things up heading into the third period.
Those Armitage brothers were in the spotlight again in the third, helping Henry Norris score the game-winner in a 3-2 victory at Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
“We’re super fortunate to have them,” Falmouth coach Deron Barton said of the Armitage twins. “They’re great athletes all around. They bring the level up for everybody.”
The first period featured a lot of shots, especially for the second-seeded Yachtsmen (16-4), and many of those came on the power play. It wasn’t until the final shot of the period that Falmouth finally put one in — on the power play, no less. Robbie Armitage skated in from the right corner to beat TA freshman goalie Seth Dube with 43 seconds on the clock.
Armitage’s twin, junior defenseman Reece, scored on the Yachtsmen’s next shot more than three minutes into the second. The blue-liners’ rip from the left point got past Dube, with Norris and brother Robbie assisting on the goal.
The third-seeded Trojans (12-7-1) took advantage of their own power play to break onto the scoreboard in the latter stages of the second. Reagan Wintle scored from the right circle a second after a 5-on-3 turned into a 5-on-3.
The Trojans lost the man-advantage but scored again 64 seconds later anyway. Chase Wescott’s shot attempt from the slot was blocked by a Falmouth defenseman, but Walsh Troiani-Gagner was right behind to clean up the loose puck and sling a shot past Yachtsmen goalie Spencer Pierce.
“We knew what we were going to get with them. We knew they were an underrated team all season long,” Barton said of TA. “For them to come out and tie us up is not a surprise.”
Norris got behind the TA defense on a breakaway and beat Dube less than three minutes into the third on what turned out to be the game-winning goal. The Armitage twins assisted on the play, with Reece starting the play and Robbie feeding Norris.
“I thought most of the night we did a good job of shutting that down,” TA coach Jamie Gagnon said of Falmouth’s breakaway potential. “They’re dangerous.”
Pierce made some tough saves to keep Falmouth ahead, then watched his defense do the work when the Trojans went on a power play with 2:13 left. The Yachtsmen penalty kill held TA without a shot on goal during the man-advantage.
“I thought we had some good looks on power plays earlier in the game,” Gagnon said. “We just couldn’t get set up.”
For Falmouth, the message by Barton during a timeout before the final PK started was simple.
“Play hockey. Kill it,” Barton said. “It’s a hockey play. Penalties need to be killed. We had a great penalty kill all season.”
Pierce made one final save off a faceoff in TA’s offensive zone with five seconds left to preserve the victory.
“I thought we had a real good look at the net there,” Gagnon said. “It just wasn’t in the cards tonight.”
That was the last of Pierce’s 22 saves. Dube made 26 on 29 shots, and Gagnon called his freshman netminder “fearless.”
“It was anybody’s game all the way right down to the end,” Barton said.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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